The Lakes

Chapter 20

            The two men in comparison were quite a sight.  Tommy was taller and tanner.  His casual attitude came through every pore of his body, every fiber of his clothing, even the way he stood.  Ryan on the other hand was shorter, just as muscular as Tommy but stiffer, more put together.  She knew much of his rigidness was due to what had happened between them and she was glad to see he was suffering as she was.

            "Chris, Ryan and I talked and I think you need to hear what he has to say," Tommy said pleadingly.

            "What?"

            "Really Chris, here him out."

            "Tommy..."

            "Please."

            If Tommy wanted her to listen to him that badly it must be worth hearing.  She nodded and tried to mentally prepare herself for this conversation.

            "I'll be just outside if you need me," Tommy said before closing the door behind him.

            "Have a seat," she said coldly and he did as if he was a dog following orders.  She sat on the far end of her sofa with her arms and legs crossed.  She eyed the flowers he'd set down on the coffee table wondering if her anger could set them on fire.

            "Let me start by saying I am so sorry for lying to you.  I regretted it every day that you were there.  And the more I got to know you, the more I hated it.  But I was in too deep.  I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you."

            "Okay," she said trying to keep any emotion out of her tone.

            He shifted his weight and continued, "There was a reason that I agreed to pretend to be JeremyLake.  It was the money, but the reason behind the money was what drove me.  Both of my parents died when I was a baby.  They were out on their sailboat for the weekend and a huge storm came through and they both drowned."

            Chris' eyes lowered, she immediately felt guilty for being so mean to him.  "I'm sorry to hear that," she said softly.

            "You don't need to be sorry; I was two when it happened.  I don't remember it.  I don't remember them.  After they died my grandparents on my mom's side took me in.  My grandmother died when I was in the eighth grade.  After that it was just me and my Grandpa Stanley.  He worked hard, took care of me, saved up money so I could go to college.  It took all his savings to send me.

            "About five months ago he was diagnosed with cancer.  It hadn't spread too much, they had thankfully found it pretty quickly but they needed to start treatment immediately.  It was going to cost us a lot of money that neither of us had.  Shortly after that Mr. Lake approached me and offered me the money to help him.

            "I had to do it Chris," he said moving a little closer to her, "I had to help him.  He had done so much for me I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to help him get the best treatment he could.  I owed him at least that, so I agreed to help Mr. Lake and my Grandpa Stan is almost cancer-free now."

            He smiled when he said that and Chris found she understood.  There were people she would do anything for that had done anything they could for her, that was just how relationships should be.

            "I understand," was all she could choke out.

            "I found your letter," he said abruptly changing the subject.

            "You did?"

            "Yes Chris, I shredded it," he said without any shame.

            "You did what?" she said feeling herself turn red, this time from anger.

            "You don't need to quit because of me.  I'm leaving."

            "You are?"

            "Yes, after the board meeting I told Jackson I wasn't sticking around.  He got what he wanted, they voted for 'JeremyLake' to inherit the company but I told him I was done.  He threatened me a little, told me I would only get the two million and not the other three but I don't care, I don't want it.  If it hadn't been for my grandfather I wouldn't have done it in the first place.  And now that he's better I don't care about anything else.  Well, with the exception of you," he said forcing a smile.

            She sidestepped that comment.  "Well, I'm not going to keep working there, I can't after all this.  I can't work for a man like that, a man who's willing to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to get his way, a man who's willing to trick honest people into doing something that's not right."

            "Will you go back tomorrow?"

            "I guess I have to now," she said standing up to get some water.  She felt incredibly parched and utterly exhausted.

            She instinctively brought him a glass as well.  She sat down and sipped on it slowly focusing on how it felt going into her stomach rather than on Ryan's gorgeous eyes watching her.

            "Chris, I know we've been through a lot of strange things just when we were getting to know each other...."

            "Yeah," she scoffed almost spitting out her water.

            He chuckled but continued, "I just want us to have another chance.  Do you think we can?  Can you give me another a chance?  If you'll let me I'll make this up to you for the rest of your life."

            The rest of my life? she thought.  Spending the rest of her life with a gorgeous, sweet, caring and hopefully now honest man continuously working for her trust and love was appealing.  She wondered though if she could trust him after all this.  Something inside her told her she could.  Then something in person told her.

            Tommy opened the door and stepped in shutting it behind him; she had forgotten he was outside guarding the place.

            "Give him another chance Chris; he seems like a good guy.  And if he's not..." Tommy said pointing his finger at Ryan.

            "Yeah, we've been over what happens if I'm not," he said putting his hands up and smiling.

            Well this was interesting, the most important man in her life completely approved of a man vying for that position.  And more interesting, the man vying for that position seemed to have no problem with the current man in the position.  As a matter of fact, he wasn't threatened in the least and they seemed to actually be forming a friendship of sorts.

            Tommy looked at her, reading her expression like a book.  "Okay well I'm out of here.  I'll see you two later," he said as he made a quick and obvious departure.

            "So?"

            "So you get one more chance.  But know that this isn't baseball, there's no three strikes rule here.  You lie to me like that again and you're out."

            "I got it," he said leaning in close to her.  "Trust me, I've got it."